BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi novelist Alaa Mashzoub was a secular civil society activist who used his bike to get around Karbala's infamous traffic and road closures. He was also an outspoken critic of foreign interference in Iraq and political meddling by powerful Iran-backed militias.

On Saturday, Mashzoub was gunned down in the Shiite holy city by unknown assailants who silenced him with 13 bullets as he rode his bicycle home for the last time.

Mashzoub's killing was the latest in a spate of assassinations targeting prominent figures in Iraq, including several activists linked to the protest moveme...